Singapore Govt. holding in Infy crosses 5 p.c.

NEW DELHI, APRIL 16. Amid bear hammering of its scrip, Infosys Technologies (Infy) has said that the Government of Singapore has increased its shareholding in the company to 5.48 per cent in compliance with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) norms.

The move by the Singapore government comes in the wake of the Nasdaq-listed company's board approving a proposal to hike foreign institutional investors' (FIIs) limit to 49 per cent from the previous 40 per cent.

Infosys informed the BSE that the Singapore government's stake in the company has gone up to 5.48 per cent of the paid-up capital as on April 12, from its previous holding of less than 5 per cent.

The company also stated that the acquisition of the additional shares by the foreign investor was in line with the SEBI norms on substantial acquisition of shares and takeovers.

Deutsche Bank AG, custodian to Singapore Government for this transaction, communicated the development to the company recently.

Infosys would seek approval of shareholders on June 2 about the hike in FII limit to 49 per cent as per the notification issued by the Government last month.

Foreign holding in Infosys, including that of Singapore Government, was about 29 per cent as on May last year when FIIs were permitted a maximum 40 per cent holding in any Indian company.

Apart from FIIs, the Unit Trust of India had about 7.66 per cent stake in Infosys while other mutual funds had about 4.2 per cent as on May, 2000. Infosys posted a net profit of Rs. 628.81 crores last fiscal as against Rs. 293.52 crores in the previous year. The company's total income stood at Rs. 1959.93 crores as on March, 2001, as compared to Rs. 921.46 crores in the previous year.

Infosys, however, projected a slowdown in its growth rate to 30 per cent this year on account of the U.S. slowdown.

The total income was expected to be between Rs. 580 crores and Rs. 590 crores for the quarter ending June, 2001, and Rs. 2,500 to Rs. 2,560 crores for the current fiscal.

- PTI

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